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Improving the Styrofoam Incubator

Here is a terrific styrofoam egg incubator made by kellyn. This has some wonderful improvements to the basic incubator project. My thanks go to kellyn for sending in the pics and all the great information. If you want to make a better incubator here is some terrific info and tips.

Awesome! I have the 'bad habit' of building incubators, I saw yours and I rate it a 6/10 for a home made incubator. On a homemade styrofoam cooler-bator, id say an 8.5~ it was nice. I critiqued yours on www.backyardchickens.com and while I read yours, I noticed that you could change 2 or 3 simple things and have a much better time Hatching.

You could add a small pc fan above the light for a more even temperature.

And I suggest putting your eggs in a cut up styrofoam egg carton; chicks have minds of their owns and aside from hatching wrong, they knock other eggs around, making it harder for unhatched chickies to hatch.
The second and third are of my incubator; it has no thermostat an it stays perfect! I took it to school and have a bunch of button quail eggs and guinea eggs in it.

As long as room temp is 70, it's fine. The incubator is best as a hatcher, because when you put a coffee mug in it with water the humidity lacks up to 60+ and easily holds.

This next drawing shows how you add a fan above the light to get a more even temperature.

Amazon.com has lots of great incubators and supplies

Top has a large clear plastic window for best viewing of the incubation and hatching process. Picture window is double plate plastic with air space insulation to help eliminate moisture buildup, which would obstruct viewing. Large viewing area is ideal for classroom work, science projects, advertising and promotional work, and for group observation of the hatching processes. The No. 1583 ia a circulated air model. Without a turner in place all Hova-Bators will hold any size egg, from 130 small Quail eggs, up to 50 large duck eggs. Dimensions: 18' x 18' x 9 1/2', 110 Volt AC,, 25 Watt All Hova-Bator incubators include a sanitary plastic liner (item No. 1765). Like all incubators, these models require a stable room temperature and should not be used in barns, sheds, etc.